Faith in America met with Senator Hatch of Utah and lead singer of Imagine Dragons to discuss LGBT youth suicide and mental anguish.

Salt Lake City, Utah— On Thursday, October 12th, Faith in America met with top Mormon legislator, Senator Orrin Hatch and lead singer of Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds to discuss the staggering epidemic facing LGBT youth across the country. The meeting centered around the shocking statistics that LGB adolescents who are highly rejected by their families during adolescence are more than 8 times as likely to attempt suicide in young adulthood1. During the meeting, Senator Hatch was asked if he thought being gay was a sin. The Senator responded with, “No, I don’t. How could anything that God gives you be a sin—especially something you are born with. Mormons believe in a pre-mortal existence, so if you tell gay kids they are sinners, you are saying that God made someone a sinner before they were born and that is just not right.”

After the cameras begin to record Senator Hatch again reiterated his earlier point saying, “I do believe they [gay people] are born that way. And if they are born that way, then why then is it a sin? because we all come from God and if that is the case—which I believe it to be—it seems we have to work out these problems ourselves without prejudice” (video link above).

“Senator Hatch has taken an extraordinary first step by saying he doesn’t believe being gay is a sin. As the top Mormon legislator in the country, he wields enormous power in the lives of thousands of LGBT kids in Utah and across America” said Mitchell Gold, co-founder of Faith in America. “While it is important the Senator and the LDS church understand the epidemic facing LGBT youth, we need them to change their outdated teachings regarding homosexuality. As the LDS church has progressed in terms of polygamy, those who are the most vulnerable among us, need the church to progress on homosexuality.”

Faith in America calls upon the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to hear the words of Senator Hatch and understand the real mental health crisis being faced by young LGBT mormons in Utah and across the country.

Faith in America is a nonprofit organization that seeks to end harmful anti-LGBT religious teachings by directly engaging and informing religious leaders about the real harm they cause. We are directly calling upon all religious denominations to once and for all end the practice of teaching that “homosexuality is a sin.” More information can be found at faithinamerica.org.

Faith in America website: www.faithinamerica.org

Save yOur Kids website: www.save-yOur-kids.org

Source: 1. Family Acceptance ProjectTM. (2009). Family rejection as a predictor of negative health outcomes in white and Latino lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults. Pediatrics. 123(1), 346-52.